NKUMBA UNIVERSITY
MAIN CAMPUS
SCHOOL OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Question 2:
Building on Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs, Paul Sites and John Burton hold that conflict is as a result of lack of satisfaction of basic needs. Yet, conflict is known to destroy existing basic needs, creating in turn further, untold human suffering and insecurity. Discuss, as a student of Security and Global Studies how human needs deprivation accounts for conflict and insecurity in a country/region of your choice.
Introduction
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a foundational motivational theory in psychology, first introduced in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” and later expanded in his 1954 book Motivation and Personality. Maslow proposed that human needs are arranged in a hierarchical pyramid structure, with the most basic, life-sustaining needs at the bottom and higher-level psychological and self-fulfilment needs at the top. Individuals are motivated to fulfill lower-level needs before progressing to higher ones, though the hierarchy is not entirely rigid needs can overlap, and cultural or individual differences may influence the order (Carducci, 2020).
The hierarchy consists of five main levels, typically depicted as a pyramid:
Physiological Needs (Base level): These are the biological requirements essential for survival, including air, water, food, shelter, clothing, warmth, sleep, and reproduction. Until these are adequately met, higher needs remain largely irrelevant.
Safety Needs: Once physiological needs are satisfied, the focus shifts to security and stability. This includes personal and financial security, health and well-being, safety from accidents or injury, and protection from threats (employment, property, and freedom from fear).
Love and Belongingness Needs (Social Needs): At this level, people seek interpersonal relationships, affection, and a sense of connection. This encompasses friendship, intimacy, family bonds, social groups, and a feeling of belonging to a community.
Esteem Needs: Divided into two subtypes esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and the desire for respect from others (status, prestige, recognition). Satisfaction here fosters confidence, self-respect, and a sense of contribution.
Self-Actualization Needs (Top level): The pinnacle of the hierarchy involves realizing personal potential, seeking personal growth, peak experiences, and self-fulfilment. Maslow described this as the desire “to become everything one is capable of becoming.”
South sudan conflicts
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has been plagued by recurring conflicts since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of civil war. The roots of its instability trace back to the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), which ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and paved the way for secession. However, internal divisions quickly resurfaced, erupting into a devastating civil war in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir (an ethnic Dinka) accused his then-Vice President Riek Machar (an ethnic Nuer) of plotting a coup. This sparked ethnically charged violence between government forces and opposition groups, rapidly spreading across the country and claiming an estimated 400,000 lives while displacing millions (Nyadera, 2018).
The 2013–2018 civil war featured widespread atrocities, including targeted killings, sexual violence, and child recruitment, with both sides accused of war crimes. A major breakthrough came in 2018 with the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), which established a power-sharing government, a ceasefire, and a roadmap for elections. While large-scale national fighting subsided, implementation has been slow and repeatedly delayed, with the transitional period extended multiple times most recently pushing elections from 2024 to December 2026 amid stalled reforms like unified security forces and constitutional progress.
Today, South Sudan faces persistent subnational and intercommunal violence, often over resources like land, water, and cattle, exacerbated by ethnic rivalries, climate shocks, and political tensions. In 2025, clashes intensified, with reports of hundreds of civilian deaths, abductions, and sexual violence in a single quarter the highest since 2020. Localized conflicts, including farmer-herder disputes and militia activities, account for most violence, while spillover from the neighbouring Sudanese civil war has brought over 900,000 returnees and refugees, straining resources further (Krause, 2020)
The humanitarian toll remains catastrophic: over 9 million people (two-thirds of the population) need aid, with millions facing acute food insecurity and widespread displacement. Flooding, disease outbreaks like cholera, and economic collapse compound the crisis, trapping generations in cycles of poverty and insecurity. Despite these challenges, the R-ARCSS remains the primary framework for peace, with calls for renewed commitment to avoid relapse into full-scale war ahead of the 2026 elections. Regional and international efforts continue to urge dialogue, civilian protection, and accountability to break the cycle of violence in this fragile state (Afriyie Jisong, & Yaw Appiah, 2020).
Poverty situation in South Sudan
South Sudan is grappling with one of the most extreme poverty crises in the world, characterized by near-universal deprivation driven by prolonged conflict, economic collapse, and recurrent natural disasters. As of 2025, over 92% of the population lives in extreme poverty, with projections suggesting that poverty could soon affect virtually everyone without significant interventions. The country’s GDP per capita remains among the lowest globally, hovering around $251, reflecting a heavily disrupted economy reliant on oil production that has been crippled by civil war and infrastructure damage (Ahmed, Raouf, & Siddig, 2026).
Hyperinflation, currency devaluation, and disrupted trade have eroded purchasing power, while recurrent flooding affecting millions annually destroys crops and livelihoods, pushing over 7.7 million people (more than half the population) into acute food insecurity. Humanitarian needs are staggering, with approximately 9.3 million individuals nearly 70% of the population requiring assistance for basic survival needs such as food, clean water, shelter, and healthcare. Acute malnutrition affects hundreds of thousands of children, disease outbreaks like cholera and malaria are widespread due to poor sanitation and limited medical access, and over 2 million people remain internally displaced in camps with minimal services. This entrenched poverty creates a vicious cycle, undermining education, health, and economic opportunities, trapping generations in vulnerability and making recovery increasingly difficult despite international aid efforts (Larue, 2025).
Discussion
Building on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which posits that human motivation is driven by a progression from physiological requirements like food and water to safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualization, theorists such as Paul Sites and John Burton extend this framework to argue that conflicts emerge primarily from the frustration or deprivation of these fundamental needs, leading individuals and groups to pursue them through aggressive means when institutional avenues fail. In this view, unmet basic needs create deep-seated grievances that manifest as insecurity and violence, while ongoing conflicts exacerbate deprivation by destroying resources and infrastructure, perpetuating a vicious cycle of suffering. As a student of Security and Global Studies, this theoretical lens is particularly illuminating when applied to South Sudan, a region plagued by protracted conflict and humanitarian crises since its independence in 2011, where the deprivation of essential human needs has not only fuelled intercommunal and political violence but also entrenched widespread insecurity.
In South Sudan, physiological needs such as access to food and clean water are severely compromised, with climatic shocks like floods and droughts affecting 36% of the population and leading to crop failures that heighten food insecurity for millions. For instance, in 2024, flooding impacted up to 1.4 million people, coinciding with harvesting seasons and worsening nutrition crises, while the influx of over 904,000 refugees from neighbouring Sudan’s conflict has overwhelmed local resources, causing skyrocketing food prices and market instability in border areas. This deprivation directly accounts for conflict, as resource scarcity exacerbated by rising temperatures and erratic precipitation intensifies farmer-herder clashes, cattle raiding, and land disputes among ethnic groups like the Dinka and Nuer, who perceive threats to their survival and identity needs as per Burton’s emphasis on recognition and security.
Intercommunal violence, which constituted 83% of documented incidents in the second quarter of 2024 with a 43% increase in victims compared to the previous year, often stems from these competitions over dwindling water sources and pastures, illustrating how unmet basic needs escalate into armed confrontations and human rights abuses, including widespread sexual violence against women and girls.
Furthermore, the lack of safety needs evident in the 2.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and projections of an additional 337,000 arrivals in 2025 fuels insecurity by creating vulnerable populations prone to exploitation, recruitment into militias, and secondary displacements, as communities fracture along ethnic lines in pursuit of protection and belonging.
Conflict in turn destroys existing infrastructure, such as health facilities (with only 44% of the population within reach) and education systems, leading to disease outbreaks like malaria, which claimed 1,800 lives in 2024, and further entrenching poverty and instability. Economic fragility, delayed political reforms, and public health challenges compound this cycle, as seen in the humanitarian community’s plan to target 5.4 million people in 2025 at a cost of US$1.7 billion, underscoring the scale of deprivation-driven insecurity.
Ultimately, in South Sudan, the interplay of human needs deprivation and conflict highlights the need for security studies to prioritize inclusive governance and resource equity to break this destructive loop, aligning with Maslow’s and Burton’s assertions that satisfying basic needs is foundational to peace and stability.
Expanding on higher-level needs, the frustration of belonging and esteem in South Sudan has deepened ethnic divisions, where political elites manipulate tribal identities to consolidate power, depriving communities of social recognition and autonomy. This aligns with Sites’ argument that conflicts emerge from identity-based deprivations, as seen in the 2013 crisis triggered by President Salva Kiir’s dismissal of Vice President Riek Machar, which exploited ethnic loyalties and resulted in widespread atrocities. Women and children, comprising the majority of the 9.3 million in need of humanitarian aid in 2025, suffer disproportionately, with gender-based violence and child soldier recruitment stripping away dignity and social bonds, further entrenching insecurity as per Burton’s framework. Climate change exacerbates this by intensifying resource scarcity, such as water shortages in flood-prone areas, linking environmental degradation to needs frustration and conflict escalation.
Ironically, the conflicts born from these deprivations have destroyed infrastructure, including water points and health facilities, creating further suffering: the ongoing crisis has led to a cholera outbreak affecting over 80,000 in 2025, illustrating how violence dismantles the very systems needed for basic survival and perpetuates a feedback loop of insecurity. In global studies terms, this underscores the interconnectedness of human security with state fragility, where international interventions like the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement must address root needs through inclusive governance to break the cycle, yet persistent violations and underfunding highlight the challenges of applying needs-based approaches in practice.
From a security perspective, South Sudan’s case reveals broader implications for the region, including spillover effects into neighbouring Uganda and Ethiopia via refugee flows over 300,000 fled in early 2025 alone potentially destabilizing East Africa through cross-border resource strains and ethnic tensions. Human needs theory advocates for preventive diplomacy focused on equitable resource distribution and participatory peacebuilding, as demonstrated by limited successes in community-led water management initiatives that reduce local conflicts. Ultimately, addressing deprivation in South Sudan requires holistic strategies integrating humanitarian aid with political reforms, emphasizing that sustainable security demands fulfilling universal human needs to avert the endless cycle of violence and suffering.
REFERENCES
Afriyie, F. A., Jisong, J., & Yaw Appiah, K. (2020). Comprehensive analysis of South Sudan conflict: Determinants and repercussions. Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, 6(1), 33-47.
Ahmed, M., Raouf, M., & Siddig, K. (2026). What are the economic and poverty implications for Sudan if the conflict continues through 2025?. The Journal of Development Studies, 62(1), 106-127.
Carducci, B. J. (2020). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The Wiley encyclopedia of personality and individual differences: Models and theories, 269-273.
Krause, J. (2020). Stabilization and local conflicts: Communal and civil war in South Sudan. In Stabilization as the New Normal in International Interventions (pp. 34-49). Routledge.
Larue, K. (2025). How Poverty Correlates With Food Insecurity in South Sudan.
Nyadera, I. N. (2018). South Sudan conflict from 2013 to 2018: Rethinking the causes, situation and solutions. African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 18(2), 59-86.
